This Blog is dedicated to the book 3 a.m. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley. The challenge is to complete, in order, each of the two hundred writing exercises. The exercises are posted with the kind permission of Professor Kiteley. NOTE: (R) next to the title of any of our posts means that contents may offend. (Password: "iamover18") New authors are welcome.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Challenge 2: Don't blink

Survive. You must succeed, for when you rise, we rise with you and when you fall, we fall.

Just keep running, dodge the trees, jump over the roots. Make sure that you are not delayed by anything. Don't close your eyes, don't take an unnecessarily deep breath, don't even blink if it will slow you down. Whatever you do, don't stop.

Run the path until your legs begin to give out and your lungs are about to explode and then run some more. Watch out for any roots or branches across your path, one fall and it is all over. Once you have run further than you ever imagined you could begin to look out for the signs. Turn left at the first fork, the second and the third. Turn hard right, almost doubling back on your path after that. Keep running.

Pass below the arches of the willow trees quickly. Do not stop to pray as you usually would. Save up your prayers for when you reach the bunker. Respect the sacred ground but do not even slow down to pray. Continue like this the whole way so that they, who do not respect our God, will not catch up to you.

Concentrate on the cold wind on your face. Pay attention to how it stings your eyes and ears. Let your hair stream back in the wind. Scream out loud if you must to keep yourself from giving in to fatigue. Stop yourself from tiring any way that you can. Actively let them hear your position, make them think they know the path you are talking.

Once you pass the shrine, built by our ancestors to thank God for her loyalty, climb the cliff that appears to your left. Do not let the climb slow you down. Sprint up that cliff as if the fate of your people depends on it, for it does. Do not fall. Keep your footing sturdy.

Stop when you reach the top. You must stop, even though it will feel so wrong to do so. Gather bitter herbs from the top of the cliff and sprinkle them down. Do this as quickly as you can to remove your scent from the cliff, they will be expecting you to follow the path. Run once more as soon as you have done this. Keep going as fast as you can, they will not be confused for long. Run to the bunker from here, you know the way.

Say the old prayers as soon as you arrive. Make yourself safe by doing this. Find the red bound book in the bookcase and open it. Read the words within to figure out what to do next. Be the one to read those words and set us free.

I like this piece too. Maybe its cheating to have a look before I do the challenge myself :p you tell a whole story with background details which is pretty difficult in this format and you've used the imperative to create urgency.